Monday, September 19, 2016

I wanted to throw this one out there to the makerspace/Ultimaker community. Has anyone had experience printing food safe items?

I just stumbled upon Cookie Caster, a free website to make your own cookie cutters and thought it would be a great program for the upcoming fall/winter holiday season. However, with some introductory research from one of my co-workers, it seems like we might have to go with buying food safe filament. Granted most of the plastic people use still has harmful chemicals like BPA even though it was FDA approved but that's a different rant for a different day. So the question is, if it is just a one time use cookie cutter, printed in regular PLA, with take some safety instructions, will it be OK? or should we venture food safe? Or should we just wait for more research......I think use-able bowls and cups are definitely out for the near future.

On a fun food end note, our custodian is leaving who LOVES Cheez-Its so we're 3D printing him a bowl with fake cheez-its as a going away present. I couldn't find an already made print (go figure) so I designed one in tinkercad. The file is available for public use in case anyone else wants to have a low calorie version of the delicious snack food. They're making me very HUNGRY.

Monday, September 12, 2016

I have a glass water bottle that is very hard to clean because it has a small mouth opening. Normally I clean it with a paper towel attached to a chopstick. One of our staff found me cleaning it one day and said, "Why don't you 3D print something?" Why indeed!

My idea was to take 2 toothbrushes, measure out the width and length of the bottom of the brushes with my trusty digital caliper, then make a long attachment so I can reach deep down without using my hand. I used pre-made shapes in tinkercad.

My first attempt was a dud. It didn't fit inside the bottle! My second attempt with the entry holes very far down offered no support to the brushes and they just went willy nilly everywhere once I got inside the bottle. Now granted I could have taped them together or used elastics but this was not the point.

all attempts

So I figured, why not just use one toothbrush? The third attempt was a one hole design but the hole was too far down and the brush still needed support so my fourth attempt elongated and thickened the stick itself.

And tadah! My one concern is I didn't account for trying to clean the very bottom. That will be a challenge for next time.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Need to make an award? Now that we have a 3D printer readily available, there are so many opportunities for customized giveaways/prizes that we would normally have to go out and purchase through companies like Oriental Trading.

For our first egg drop last summer, we 3D printed medals that we designed in Tinkercad for the winners. Egg drops are really fun and low stress program since all you provide is the eggs and a tarp. We dropped contraptions kids made from home out the 2nd story window to see if their egg inside survived. Since that went over so well, next spring we made a Peep Award for our Book themed Peep Dioramas. This was another stress free program as kids worked together at home to design the Peep dioramas and brought them in for judging and viewing. These shapes were very easy to combine in Tinkercad. I think in hindsight it would be nice to put lettering on it to say Duxbury Free Library and the year.

During the annual summer Lego Contest 2 years running, we 3D printed award trophies (81 mm tall) to put beside the creations. This one was a combination of shapes in Tinkercad as well as uploading a pre-made Lego block that someone else had designed. This is also another program that requires little prep work as kids make their Legos from home based on a theme and submit them for viewing on a specific week.

We are currently printing team medallions to hand out to those who show that they caught a Pokemon at the library through the Go app. I'm still obsessed with the game by the way (LEVEL 24! Go Team Valor). These files were found pre-made and printed in bulk depending on the team. 4 printed in about 4 hours (about 47 mm x 53 mm) and I have been printing every morning for the past month (when I remember) in preparation. Files can be found here if you'd like to make them. Not to mention the entire catalog of possible 3D printed Pokemon themselves that I haven't even begun to dive into.

What's great about the 3D printer, among other things, is you can make things the day of. So if 10 extra people sign up last minute for the egg drop, no problem! We can just quickly print more awards without anyone having to do a last minute run to iParty or paying extra for shipping through Oriental Trading. In addition, they will never be out of stock or discontinued. Once you have designed them the first time, which could be as time consuming as you want it to be, you can just change the year and reprint. Usually the Tinkercad community has a wealth of pre-made shareable items that you can use as a base like I did with the Lego award. Here is the link to my shareable files.

Addendum 9/7: Here is another idea I found posted on Facebook this week. Reader's advisory for all ages changes from a sticker/bookmark to an eye catching 3D printed thumbs up.

What is a Makerspace?

A place where people can collaborate, innovate, and create using information, resources, tools, and collections provided at the library. People can play, tinker, explore, or pursue personal or professional goals.

Goals:

Spur innovation and artistic expression through hands-on experiences

Collaborate with the community to explore talents, skills, and expertise